Coscharis winner of multiple awards in 2017

Coscharis Group, a Nigerian conglomerate that plays in diverse sectors of the economy, including automobile, information technology, logistics, beverages, agro-allied and a host of others as well as representing globally respected iconic brands in Nigeria, ended the year with celebration of accolades.

Coscharis was recognised with various awards across their business interests, as one of the top 50 brands in Nigeria, based on Brand Strength Measurement and BSM index, organised by Top 50 Brands in Nigeria recently.

The Ford Ranger, which is now assembled at the Coscharis Motor Assembly in Nigeria, also won the Auto Brand of the Year at the Marketing World Awards held in Ghana.

To cap it all Coscharis carted home three unique awards at the recently awards organised by the Nigeria Auto Journalist Association (NAJA), held at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos.

They included the Ford Explorer as the SUV of the Year; Range Rover Vogue as the Luxury SUV of the Year; and the Coscharis multi brand showroom at their group head office in Awoyaya, Lagos as the Showroom of the Year.

Commenting on all these recognitions by various bodies, elated President/ CEO of the Coscharis Group, Dr. Cosmas Maduka, said ending an eventful and challenging business year with all these awards couldn’t have come at a better time than now in a glorious way.

He said: “These awards while stiffly competed for, they are attestations to the organisation’s drive to continually deliver value for money and remain timeless in its relevance at all times even despite all the business challenges in the year 2017, which we as an entity was able to turn to opportunities to remain the market leaders in the auto industry and new kid on the block to watch in the agro – allied sector with our Coscharis Farms already producing tons of rice for the citizenry.”

Hyundai posts strong April 2018 global sales

Hyundai Motor Company, South Korea’s largest automaker and No.1 Selling Korean automaker in the world, has announced its global sales results for April 2018, posting a total of 391,197 units sold, up 11.1 per cent from a year earlier.

The highest growth since December 2014 was led by strong sales of new SUV models – the all-new Santa Fe and Kona – while a recent sales rebound in the Chinese market also largely contributed to the growth.

Sales in overseas markets totaled 327,409 units, representing an increase of 12.2 per cent year-over-year. Sales increased significantly as the company’s popular subcompact SUV Kona expanded to key markets and demand remained strong in emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia and India.

Sales in the Korean market increased by 5.7 per cent compared to the same period of the previous year, recording 63,788 units sold. The all-new Santa Fe became the best-selling model in Korea for the second consecutive month, posting 11,837 units sold.

Volkswagen forecasts Nigeria automobile market rebound

Volkswagen AG expects a rebound in vehicle sales in Nigeria as the economy recovers, the head of the company’s South African operations said.

Sales in the West African nation dropped to less than 40 units last year, according to the company. Nigeria was one of several African oil exporters hit hard when crude prices crashed in 2014, but the economy is recovering as oil rebounds.

“Now that the oil price has been recovering hopefully this situation will reverse and we can assemble and see a few hundred cars in the next year or so,” Thomas Schaefer said in an interview at a conference in the Rwandan capital, Kigali.

Volkswagen resumed building cars in Nigeria in 2015, it’s first factory on the continent outside South Africa. The company is set to start producing models including the Polo, Passat and Teramont at an assembly plant in Rwanda next month.

We are “expecting to start with at least 2,000 cars in 2018 alone, but I would love to get to 10,000 cars,” Schaefer said.

While VW is continuously assessing opportunities in countries like Ethiopia, Ghana and Tanzania for expansion, “with these new markets it is a bit of a long shot,” he said.